worksplace

)The sink in my workplace gathers dirty dishes. This is a problem for the faculty and staff who use the kitchen daily. It’s natural that dishes will pile up because we have students, renters, and visiting faculty and staff who use the kitchen sporadically, usually during a rush on a break. Also, not everyone knows the rules of the kitchen, or that it’s okay to use the dishwasher.

After posting a much clearer sign, the dirty dishes were reduced. I decided to go further and use an Arduino, PIR sensor and LCD screen, and to solve the problem both technologically and psychologically.

Close up Arduino PIR sensor to LCD screen sink monitor

The beta test revealed that the sensor is a bit sticky sometimes and doesn’t catch motion, and that the message it sends when it seems motion around sink of “Please do your dishes” didn’t work as well as the message “Thank you for doing all your dishes.” Proof that you do sometimes get more bees with honey.